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RACING? TO TRANSFORM COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES: AN INSTITUTIONAL
CASE STUDY OF RACE-RELATED ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE IN HIGHER
EDUCATION
by
Melissa Contreras-McGavin
A Dissertation Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
(HIGHER EDUCATION POLICY)
May 2009
Copyright 2009 Melissa Contreras-McGavin

For more than four decades, efforts have been made to address persistent racial inequalities in American higher education. In fact, many colleges and universities treat matters of race including racism as issues of the past. Despite a host of efforts and notions that progress has been made in remediating racial injustice, there is evidence that racial equality is still elusive for many students. This dissertation explores the treatment of racial diversity from a perspective of organizational change with the goal of understanding how transformation related to race occurs. Using an interdisciplinary theoretical framework, this study investigates practices that support and obstruct racial diversity within colleges and universities. Through an organizational case study of a small private college, this study sheds light on what is said about race versus what is done about race. The findings from this study confirm there is a disconnect between the college's rhetoric about diversity and its actions, and that there are a number of subtle and undetected ways that race and racism are perpetuated within higher education. A few intended outcomes of this study are the recognition of how race is currently treated in higher education and the advancement of race-related organizational change efforts.

RACING? TO TRANSFORM COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES: AN INSTITUTIONAL
CASE STUDY OF RACE-RELATED ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE IN HIGHER
EDUCATION
by
Melissa Contreras-McGavin
A Dissertation Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
(HIGHER EDUCATION POLICY)
May 2009
Copyright 2009 Melissa Contreras-McGavin